Bowles oversees a department that, under Patrick's reorganization, combined energy and environment under one secretary. A wonk who worked on environmental issues in the Clinton White House and on the National Security Council, Bowles was expected to be a whiz at the policy, but not necessarily at management and politics.

So it's a bit surprising to some that Bowles has successfully managed to shepherd through so much big, sweeping legislation.

Patrick initiatives on ocean management, global warming, renewable energy, and green jobs have become law. The legislature deserves much of the credit, as does Bowles's senior advisor, Christian Scorzoni (a former Robert Travaglini aide). But Bowles was a driving force.

"It's been a very successful year," says Bob Durand, an environmental consultant who once held Bowles's position. "You couldn't ask for anything better."

"All of a sudden," says Joseph Baerlein, partner at Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications (whose lengthy rûsumû includes work under two cabinet secretaries), "environment and energy policies are on page one."

And, given the progressive nature of the initiatives, it's interesting to find that some business groups also give Bowles a thumbs-up. "We've been very pleased working with Secretary Bowles," says David Begelfer, CEO of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, in Needham. "We've had tremendous access to the secretary and the department."

It's hard to deny the success on the energy side. But some are concerned that the full-throttle focus on those big initiatives has left some old-fashioned environmental matters unattended.

One of those areas is water infrastructure, which may need an estimated $12 billion in repairs. Advocates say the issue is not being addressed; in fact, Patrick vetoed an attempt to create a commission to study the problem, for fear, some charge, that the resulting findings would expose the administration's inaction.

But Durand argues that good undersecretaries are taking care of that end of things, and most observers agree that Bowles has put together a strong team.

Roast pork Back in January, Governor Deval Patrick declared a "season of significant government reform" on Beacon Hill.

Patrick's latest train wreck There is no doubt that Governor Deval Patrick had — and has — much better ideas about reforming and restructuring the state's transportation infrastructure — including the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority — than the legislature.

Missing in action Good-government advocates often breathe a sigh of relief when the legislature quits Beacon Hill.

Republicans continue to wage war on women The Republican Party's unrelenting war on women is now being waged with such frenzied fury that sane people might well wonder if there is a GOP-wide obsession with punishing an entire gender.

Weenie Roast! A year ago, with scandals and embarrassments swirling around Massachusetts state politics, the Phoenix tossed some well-deserving pols on the flames in our first annual Memorial Day political roast. I'm pleased that I've been invited back.

That dirty water Much of the heart and soul of historic Boston is in danger of sinking into the marshy ooze on which it was built over the centuries.

Brown, baby, Brown Senator Scott Brown is getting a lot of praise from the left and abuse from the right for crossing party lines to help pass a jobs bill earlier this week.

The pain hits home With unsuccessful wars running in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the worst economic crisis in almost 80 years likely to get worse long before it gets better, Barack Obama will face challenges of historic proportions when he becomes the nation's 44th president next week.

This Far by Faith Though the timing was merely coincidental, it seemed extra harsh for Governor Deval Patrick to slash funding for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute right before Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month.

Critical Mass If free speech is what gives value to the campus "marketplace of ideas," UMass Amherst would long ago have gone bankrupt.

MRS. WARREN GOES TO WASHINGTON | March 21, 2013 Elizabeth Warren was the only senator on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, aside from the chair and ranking minority, to show up at last Thursday's hearing on indexing the minimum wage to inflation.

MARCH MADNESS | March 12, 2013 It's no surprise that the coming weekend's Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have become politically charged, given the extraordinary convergence of electoral events visiting South Boston.

LABOR'S LOVE LOST | March 08, 2013 Steve Lynch is winning back much of the union support that left him in 2009.

AFTER MARKEY, GET SET, GO | February 20, 2013 It's a matter of political decorum: when an officeholder is running for higher office, you wait until the election has been won before publicly coveting the resulting vacancy.